Why supporters of other social change and reform movements should also support building a Human Union?
On this page we discuss how building a Human Union will helps realize the goals of other reform movements as well. Below is a brief set of summaries targeted to different reform groups.
Environmentalism
Protecting the environment is one of the great challenges of our age. But effective protection of the environment cannot occur through the actions of one country alone. As long as we assume that, just because we are physically located in a particular geographic area, our interests are different to those in others, we will be blinded to our shared responsibility and dependence on our planet. The consequences of global environmental problems, and the action required to address them, prove as much as anything else that we share a common interest and destiny. As long as we allow our common interests as humans in protecting our natural heritage to be subverted by national political interests our Planet will continue to be imperiled. The only effective lasting action to protect our environment will be global coordinated action. The only way we can achieve global coordinated action is to build a global political system such as the Human Union.
Ending world poverty and starvation
One of the greatest barriers to bringing an end to world food shortages is the fact that we are organized into competing states rather than a human political community. As long as we are organized like this the first question every government will ask about every policy is "is this in the national interest". Economic development programs will be established to help the nation rather than humanity. People calling for a human rather than a national perspective on development and food today are often criticized for naivete as they ignore what is in the national interest.
We will never develop a policy which truly responds to the needs of our fellow humans while we remain organized in political systems which respond only to the needs of the nation and not our fellow humans. If we want coordinated global polices that respect the needs of our fellow humans we have to build a political system which is based on respecting our fellow humans; a Human Union. It really is naive to expect the world to cooperate without trying also to bring the world together into a coordinated political system where common interests can be expressed.
To bring an end to global poverty and starvation we need to build a global political system; a Human Union.
Anti-globalization activists
For years anti globalization activists have campaigned against what they see as the iniquities caused by globalized commerce. In domestic politics we can call upon the government to regulate and combat the worst excesses of the commercial system. We cannot do this in the international sphere because there is no global government or political system. The globalized commerce that anti-globalization activists complain about operates in an environment where there is no counter veiling political system. Building a Human Union will help build a political system that is capable of addressing the issues raised by economic globalization. Failing to build a Human Union means there will continue to be no global political system to balance the forces of economic globalization. Anyone wanting to combat the forces of global commerce needs to build a global political system to make the job possible. They need to support the building of a Human Union.
Supporting Human Rights
It is many years since the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed. Yet in many countries of the world human rights are routinely violated. This is because we have a world divided into competing sovereign states. Such states have no incentive to improve their human rights record as their internal policies are seen as their internal concern and their is no external organization which is both attractive enough for them to want to join and which requires a commitment to respect human rights from its members. The United Nations welcomes all nations regardless of their human rights records and includes some of the world worst human rights violators amongst its most important members.
The world will not move in common direction on human rights while it is dived into states with competing interests. It will only move in such a direction in dovetail with developing and actual political system and community which makes those human rights an issue.
The only way to make respect for human rights a priority is to build a political system which respects our humanity; a Human Union.
Ending warfare
Around the world many peace activists campaign for an end to the horrors of warfare. Such campaigns have been continuing for centuries and yet have had little success. Many people have proposed that we learn better to love and respect our fellow human beings and this will bring an end to warfare. But the current system of sovereign nation states is guaranteed to produce warfare as it offers no way to achieve security other than to be ready to go to war against other nation states. It encourages people to think and act as though their community ends at national borders.
It is not enough to end warfare to say we are all part of one human community. We need to build an actual human political community such as through building a Human Union. Once we have developed a Human Union all wars will be seen for what they really are; civil wars of humanity.
If you oppose warfare and want to bring an end to the civil war of humanity should support the building of a Human Union and encourage the government of your country to make a Human Union Declaration. It is time to stop the human civil war of humanity by starting to build a political system that respects humans; a Human Union.